Railway rail and joint



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

S. MoCARTY.

RAILWAY RAIL AND JOINT.

Pat 'ented Aug. 11, 1885.

F'IG.6.

Wz inwses/ PETERS. Phultrumogfilphen Walmngon, U. Q

(No Model.)

N0.-323,946. Patent ed'Aug. 11,1885.

FIGJO.

ATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEIr MOOARTY, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY RAIL AND JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 323,946, dated August11, 1885.

Application filed May 7, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, SAMUEL MOCARTY, of Aurora, in the county of Kane andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Im provementsinRailwa-yRails and Joints; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear,and exact description of the invention, which will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to lettersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The main object of my invention is to make a noiseless and safe joint,and one which, while allowing the requisite expansion and contraction ofthe rails under changes of temperature, will yet keep the several jointssubstantially equal and uniform, and prevent what is called creeping ot'the rails, by permanently confining the contraction and ex pansion ofeach rail to itself, holding it firmly at its center, and causing thevariations in its length to assert themselves at both ends, and as willpresently be more clearly described.

In the drawings, Figure '1 is a plan of the adjacent ends of two bevelend rails; Fig. 2, a side view of the same, showing bolt-slots ofgraduated lengths-that is, with the slots nearest the ends of the railsomewhat longer than those which are farther from such ends; Fig. 3, aside view, with my side or fish plates applied to complete my improvedjoint; Fig. 4,

a side plate detached, and Fig. 0, a cross-section through line a: a; ofFig. 4; Fig. 5, a crosssection of my rail, showing the fiat seats forthe side plates; Fig. 7, an elevation of one of my oblong bolts; Fig. 8,an inner face view of one of the washers for the bolts; Fig. 9, asection through the bolt, washer, and nut; Fig. 10, a plan of a track,partly broken away, and showing the manner of compelling the expansionand contraction of the rails from their centers toward their ends.

The rails may be, in the main, of any usual form, whether T or H shaped,but are made with their ends slanting or beveled at any desired angle,as shown at a, but preferably at fortyfive degrees, to avoid anyabutting of square-cut ends, and also to allow of any degree oflengthwise expansion to which in use be subjected, and, further, to makea they may line of successive rails practically continuous. I furthermake them with horizontal or flat seats, as seen at b and b for the sideplates, 0, to lodge against or rest upon, so that these side or fishplates shall perform not only the duty of connecting together the endsof adjacent rails, but also by virtually increasing the practicalthickness of the web or upright part of the rails add materially totheir vertical strength in receiving the impact or thrust due to thepassing of trains, squarely supporting, as they do, the upper flanges ofthe rails, and being squarely upheld by the lower flanges. These platescare connected to the ends of two adjacent rails in a novel manner, inorder to prevent creeping while not interfering with the unavoidableexpansion and contraction. Near, the end of each rail are made oblongslots (1 e for key-bolts.

The slots d in the side plates, 0, are all of a size as to theirlengths, and such as to corre spond in height with those in the rails,(but the rail-slots d nearest to their ends are longer than those marked0, which are farther from such ends, because the expansion or thecontraction is not so great at those points 6 of the rail.) Steelkey-bolts ff, of oblong form in their crosssection, and with the edgeseither square or oval, and having heads at one end, and at their otherends a threaded part or bolt g, adapted for a nut, h, are made so thattheir oblong portions or main part shall snugly fit all the oblong slotsin the side plates; but in the rails these key-bolts fitsnugly only atthe top and bottom, and do not fill the whole lengthwise space of theslot, but leave sufficient room for the 'endwise expansion orcontraction of the rail.

Railroad men usually estimate the expansion in a rail to be one-eighthof an inch for every ten (10) feet of rail. Taking this as a basis, theslot (1 in the rail nearest its end should be made just long enoughrelatively to the breadth of its bolt f to allow for the expansion andcontraction, reckoning from the center of the rail, and the next slot,6, should be somewhat shorter, so as to allow for this expansion andcontraction and no more.

The oblong part of the key-bolts is preferably made of such length thatwhen they are inserted in the side or fish plates and rails their endsnext the threaded part shall project a little beyond the outer face ofthe adjacent side or fish plate. I then place a thick, strong washer orcap-piece, i, having oblong recesses i, over the end of each of thekey-bolts, and against the face of the plate, and tighten all up withnuts 71 These pieces 1 it will now be seen, cannot turn upon thekey-bolt, and thus cannot work loose or work away from the bolt or tendto loosen the nuts. These keys,having broad horizontal surfaces, alsomake an easy and level plate for the rail to slide on as it contractsand expands, and with little or no friction, and the character and ar'rangement of the slots, as already stated, are such that in each railthere can be no creeping, because the rail has at each side of itsconfined center 7.1 equal liberty or freedom to shift under expansion orcontraction, and the key-bolts tightly fit the length of the slots inthe side plates, leaving the rails free to expand or contract in bothdirectionsfrom their centers toward their ends. Thus the whole railcannot creep or change its location, and cause dangers and accidents totrains.

The rails must be made permanently fast or fixed at the center of theirlengths. This .is done by securing them by spikes or bolts,

as seen at Z in Fig. 10, to a tie, m, of larger size than the other orordinary ties, n, and in some cases, where necessary, they may also belonger. The object of this increased size, or increased size and length,beingto immovably hold the center of the rail and compel the pansion andcontraction to work both ways from such center toward each end.

The rails should be laid by acarei'ul trackmaster, and every rail shouldbe laid by con sulting a thermometer, so as to make the proper allowancefor the contraction and ex pansion, according to the temperature of theweather at the time the rail is put down.

In my construction it will readily be understood that the inclined orbevel joint at the ends of the rails is important as preventing anyabrupt or close abutting together of two square ends, as in ordinaryrails, and also as permitting a longer range for expansion, while neverleaving an open gap directly across the rail, the bevel-rails beingsubstantially continuous by means of their side lapping ends, althoughnot closely united. For these reasons my improved joints render therails safer and less noisy.

The great advantage of my side plates having a square seat on the railsto stand on is that it takes the great strain off from the bolts,whereas the fish-plates in general use stand on an inclined plane on thebase or foot of the rail, and are only kept there by the great force andstrain of the bolts, the tendency constantly being to slide down theincline, and the contraction and expansion in such case tend to roll thebolts first one way and then the other as the rails expand and contract,thereby unscrewing the bolt-nuts and loosening the ends of the rail,causing the cars to jump the track.

Square-edgedjoint-plates, one end of which has been attached firmly tothe rail by welding or riveting, have been heretofore used; but I makeno claim to any such construction, as both ends of my side or fishplates are similarly connected to the ends of the rails.

I do not claim, broadly, rails with beveled ends, nor, broadly, railshaving oblong slots to receive keys, but

I claim- 1. In a railway-track, rails permanently secured at theircenters to a strong cross-tic, and having oblong bolt-holes o't'graduated lengths near each end, as described, in combination with sideplates and 'tlat connecting bolts, the combination being, as set forth,such as to compel the expansion and contraction of the rail from thecenter toward both its ends to prevent creeping and accommodate thefishjoint.

2. The railjoint consisting of the following combination, namely: ailshaving their adjacent ends made with overlapping bevels a, and havingoblong slots (1 a, of graduated lengths, as set forth, near the ends ofthe rail, side plates having oblong slots all of the same size, butshorter than those in the rail, and key boltsf, oblong in cross-section.fitting tightly all the slots in the side-plates, but not fitting fullythe slots in the rail, all as set forth.

3. In combination with the rails having the long and short oblong slot-sd c, as set forth, and having the upper and lower liat seats, I) b, theside plates, slotted as described, and adapted to fit between and bearupon such seats, and keybolts fitting snugly all the slots of the sideplate.

l. In combination with rails and with side plates, all having oblongslots therein, as set forth, key-bolts adapted for such slots, andprovided with washers or cap-pieces 13, having oblong recesses 2' andtightening nuts It, all as and for the purposes set forth.

SAMUEL ll'loOAR'lY.

\Vitn esses:

M. O. Sou'rnwon'rn, J. ll. NELSON.

